In This Together
by Terrrrrrence
Summary: Brooke Rowans has never been in love. That is, until her best friend ,Blaze, told her she was in love with her. Now, she can't get him out of her head, but she knows that they could be split up by the Reaping.
1. Chapter 1 The Alley

**Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters.**

My name is Brooke Rowans. I am 16 years of age, my name should only be going in 6 times, but it is going in 30 times for tessera because my family is poor.

I look in the mirror at myself. I am short and have fair skin. My dull brown hair is tied back in a messy ponytail. The black hand-me-down jacket washes me out, but my family cannot afford flattering new clothing because of the problem of our wealth. We live in District 12, one of the poorest districts. "Brooke!" I hear the voice of my best friend, Blaze Calin, calling for me to come outside. I turn away from the mirror and run to the rickety front door. The door creaks as I swing it open. Blaze is standing on the small porch waiting for me, a small knife in his hand. I zip up my jacket and step out into the cold air. I smile at him. We step off the porch onto the dirty street.

"Reaping Day is in two days", he mentions quietly. 'I know", I say, my voice catching in my throat. He looks up at me, concern in his eyes. "Brooke", he says, reaching out to take my hand, "I need to tell you something. He pulls me along the dirty street until we reach the small dank alley where we usually hang out. As he pulls me along, I can't help smiling and laughing. I don't know what to expect, but I have a feeling it's something silly and fun he has planned for us to get our minds off the Reaping. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The usually dark alley is lit up with four candles strategically placed along the walls. "Do your parents know you took their candles?" I ask, dropping his hand. Candles are very expensive and a luxury in our town. "It doesn't matter", he says, taking my hands again. I have no idea what's going to happen, but my heart is racing. "You know there's a really good chance one of will get picked, right?" he asks. Of course I know this. Our families have always put in our names the most because we are the poorest and need the tessera the most. I do no say this, though. I only nod. "Well, I've been thinking and I have known this for a while, but I've never said it because there's never been such a high chance that one of us will get picked", he says, staring straight into my eyes, "I'm in love with you."

I don't know what to say. He has always been just my best friend. I never thought we could be something more. He reaches up and brushes a strand of hair out of my face. I can tell he's waiting for me to answer, but I don't know what to say. I avoid his eyes. I look at the wax melting off the candles and falling to the ground. "I love you", he says again. "I… I… I", I stutter. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I love you too", I get out. He hugs me and pulls me towards him in a hug. The world is spinning around me as I sob in Blaze's arms. We stand there for ten minutes like that until my crying has died down. "What's wrong?" he asks. "It's just that you're right. It's most likely we'll get picked!" I cry. By now, the candles are halfway down and little puddles of wax are on the ground.

"Brooke, I promise we won't get picked", he says, trying to comfort me. "Okay", I say and look at his face. It's full of care for me. "I guess we should blow out the candles", he says. We go around, blowing out and picking up each candle until the alley is dark again. As we walk out of the alley, I hear those three words, I love you, spinning around in my head. It is moderately early in the morning, so not many people are out and those that are out are used to seeing us up this early. 'What should we do now?" I ask. 'Well, I think my father needs help cutting up a deer someone brought in", he says handing me a knife. His father sells meat and always needs help cutting up meat. "Kay", I say. He takes my hand as we walk over to the deli.


	2. Chapter 2 The Butcher

**Disclaimer- I do not own any Hunger Games aspects of this story.**

The deli is small and rickety with a glass window so scratched you can barely see through it. We push open the door and walk into the shop. My stomach grumbles as the sweet aromas of the variety of meats reaches my nose. "Hi, Mr. Calin", I wave to Blaze's dad. He's standing at the back, cutting up venison. "Hi, Brooke. So, what are you kids up to this morning?" he asks us. Blaze glances at me, "Not much, we figured you would need help cutting up the meat."

Mr. Calin nods. We walk behind the deli counter to meet him at the cutting station. It is only then I realize Blaze and I are still holding hands. I squeeze his hand and he smiles down at me. Mr. Calin shows us the array of meat we will be cutting up. We put on aprons that are smeared with blood and smell like old pork. Blaze gets out two pairs of gloves for us to put on. As he hands me the gloves, our hands meet for a second and I feel a spark in my arm. We take out our knives and begin. He's cutting up the venison, while I work on the pork. His father goes into town to get more meat, leaving us alone.

I look at Blaze as I cut. He is tall, taller than me, and has fair skin that is slightly tanner than mine. His deep blue eyes are concentrating on the work before him. He pushes his dirty blond hair out of his eyes as he works. I smile. All of a sudden, I feel a searing pain in my right hand. I look down. In my moment of distraction, I had cut right through the glove and into my hand. "God!" I mutter. My hand's bleeding and the blood is running down my arm. "What happened", Blaze asks, looking over, "Oh, uh, hold on."

He takes off his gloves and grabs a rag. He presses it against my hand in an effort to stop the bleeding. "Okay, I'll just hold that there until the bleeding stops", he says. "Thanks", I reply. "No problem", he says, carefully holding my hand. My hand hurts badly now, but I can barely feel it. I look up at Blaze. He is looking at me too. Our eyes meet and we just stand there for a minute staring at each other. Then, he looks away. "So, what happened?" he asks. "Oh, uh, I just got distracted for a second", I say. It's technically the truth because I did get distracted. By him.

We check the bleeding. It has died down and now my hand is only throbbing. The blood is dried and smeared all over my hands and arm. "Here, let's just clean that up", he says, leading me over to the sink. He gently washes my hand until all of the blood is off and my hands are completely clean. 'Thanks again", I say, amazed by his skill. I always knew he wanted to do something in the medical area, but I had forgotten he was so good with injuries. My mind flashes back to a time when we were eight and I had skinned my knee on the road. It was bleeding and stinging badly. He had told me it would be okay and cleaned it up.

Now, he bandages the cut and tells me it will leave a small scar, nothing to worry about. I smile up at him and he smiles back. He is still holding my hand. I take his other one, so we are standing face-to-face, holding hands. We stand there for a moment, then drop hands and get back to work. I can't help smiling. No matter what happens on the day of the Reaping, I will always have him.


End file.
